Social Work Students Experienced Video Production
Social work students put theories to practice with video production exercises

Video education forms an integral role in social work education. For many years, John Ang, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Work and Psychology, collaborated with CIT Multimedia Group to include video production in his social work course for third year students.

This exercise will provide students with the necessary understanding and basic skills in public education and video production so they can apply communications theory to practice as well as experience team work.

Video production skills, e.g. how to operate a video camera, create storyboards, generate scripts, plan, shoot and edit video footage, are increasingly needed by social work professionals as they address social problems and issues from a societal perspective.

Instilling critical thinking
Central to the course design is the opportunity for students to consider persuasion theories, and use these theories to understand and critique social campaigns in Singapore.

Students in groups of three to four, work towards creating a seven or eight minute video programme.

In creating the storyboard and script, the students are asked to consider these questions:

• How do we want to present the issues?
• Why are we persuading our audiences a given point-of-view?
• Do the way we present our ideas and views reflect our individual bias, or does it reflect community values?

Next, they will have a free hand in deciding whether to use “live” subjects or “staged” events. Issues that have been covered included dangers of abortion and disability awareness.

Students are expected to complete the project in one semester. They are graded on firstly, how persuasive their video are; secondly, the angle of the story.

Note: CIT conducts video production workshops for staff who wants to explore incorporating video into coursework.